ADRIAN — For anyone whose exposure to classical music is all about big orchestral pieces, hearing a string quartet for the first time can be a whole new experience. And if they’ve never watched a small ensemble live and up close, where every nuance of playing, every subtle cue from one musician to the next that’s all about breaths and eye contact, can be seen in detail, having that experience can be downright revelatory.

Friday’s and Saturday’s Adrian Symphony Orchestra Casual Classic

performances were all about deconstructing the string quartet, in the musical- composition definition of that term to some extent but more so in the context of the foursome that plays such music.

The concert — Friday’s is the one discussed here — featured the Beaumont String Quartet, a highly talented foursome made up of violinists Priscilla Johnson and Judith Teasdle, violist Susan Schreiber and cellist Stefan Koch.

The quartet shared teaching duties, as it were, with ASO Music Director John Thomas Dodson, who engaged the group in a question-and-answer session about exactly how they go about the business of rehearsing and performing chamber music. It all made for a lively discussion, as did the opportunity to learn a little something about how string-quartet compositions are built.

In dissecting single movements of Mozart’s String Quartet No. 8 and Richard Stoehr’s String Quartet in E flat — more on this piece shortly — audience members could discover how such works are structured. With the quartet members playing their parts solo and in various combinations as well as all together, it was a very interesting chance to see how four different instrumental voices come together to produce a singular entity, hence the concert’s title: “4=1: A String Quartet’s Challenge.”

Now, about the Stoehr string quartet: If you’ve never heard of Richard Stoehr, you’re not alone. Almost no one has. Stoehr — whose personal story is a compelling one — wrote this particular work in 1942, and Friday’s performance by the Beaumont String Quartet was most likely the first time anyone had heard this music since that time. In fact, because none of his U.S. works has ever been published, the quartet was working off of copies of his handwritten score.

Given that the scherzo movement played for this concert is just delightful, it certainly left this listener, at least, wanting to hear the rest of the piece. Happily, with cellist Koch having become a champion of Stoehr’s music, the Beaumont Quartet will soon be bringing this particular quartet to a wider audience. And it’s to be hoped that Stoehr in general eventually ceases to be lost to the mists of time.

Page 2 of 2 - Wrapping up the program was Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in its entirety, after which the musicians presented as their encore the final movement of the Mozart work that opened the concert.

These Casual Classic concerts are intended to be ways for people to learn more about music, and this one definitely fit the bill. The conversation between Dodson and the musicians — all of them obviously quite at home with talking to an audience and completely unruffled by being asked to play parts and pieces of the works at Dodson’s request — was both informative and quite entertaining, and while the topic at hand did make for some extended discussion, it was interesting throughout.

And by proving themselves to be not only four solid musicians each in their own right, but also well possessed of the vital ability to work as one unit to produce excellent music, the Beaumont Quartet certainly showed its mettle as a very fine ensemble.